Accounting & Auditing Update

KPMG has appointed an independent member to its U.S. board, only the third such appointment across the entire Big 4.

Auditors following global standards now have updated rules on how to audit accounting estimates, guidance U.S. auditors have been awaiting for years.

With less than three months until new lease accounting rules take effect, new tools are emerging to help companies that are still working on implementation.

SEC staff have signaled companies might want to take a second look at their revenue recognition compliance as they approach their first year-end filing under ASC 606.

Plenty of companies adopting new lease accounting rules for a Jan. 1, 2019, effective date are likely to continue their implementation work even into the first quarter.

For the first time since 2010, adverse auditor opinions on internal control over financial reporting tapered off in 2017.

The PCAOB has handed BDO USA another scathing inspection report, finding 67 percent of the audits examined in 2016 failed to comply with standards.

The SEC will be looking for increasingly detailed disclosures to investors about the expected effects of moving to a new method for recognizing credit losses.

Tax departments need to tool up to be ready for the kinds of tax planning that will occur in the coming 12 months, especially under tax reform, survey says.

Investor confidence in auditors and in capital markets in general fell in 2018, according to the annual poll by the Center for Audit Quality.

As audit firms disclose who performs public company audits, gender diversity is emerging as the first major concern regarding audit engagement leadership.

Treasury and the IRS have issued proposed new regulations on how to calculate global intangible low-taxed income under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.

As the true effects of tax reform unfold, enthusiasm is waning in corporate boardrooms, according to a recent poll.

Audit regulators remain mum on when, if ever, they will publish a report on their 2016 inspection of Big 4 audit firm KPMG.

The Financial Accounting Standards Board is planning a number of updates to accounting standards around all three of its major new standards on financial instruments.

Nearly 300 companies and associations signed a letter to the U.S. Treasury asking for guidance to edit what they call drafting errors in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.

Big 4 firms are meeting with FASB and SEC staff to sort out how to report certain effects of tax reform when clarity on provisions within the tax law is still elusive.

Companies now have new guidance on how to account for the costs of implementing certain cloud computing service arrangements.

GAAP now contains a shorter list of disclosure requirements for fair-value measurements and defined benefit plans, along with a reprised definition of materiality.

The PCAOB has issued more guidance to auditors about how they should comply with requirements to add new information to audit reports.

SEC enforcement actions against accountants have tapered off the past few years, according to a new analysis, while PCAOB actions jumped and remained high.

Companies are getting a little more clarity from the IRS on how to interpret provisions under tax reform affecting executive compensation.

The Financial Accounting Standards Board is proposing some amendments to the pending new standard on credit losses.

Audit regulators are inviting feedback on a slimmed-down strategic plan, giving stakeholders a chance to influence how to regulate public company auditing.

FASB has issued a new accounting standard that revises the reporting around long-duration contracts for insurance companies.